Ancient Emerald Lily

As the leaves are steeping, the aroma reminds me of fresh, steamed corn on the cob. I’m getting a little bit of chestnut as well, and taste-wise, the touch of lightly-sweet flowers is just plain awesome.

The first time I had this tea it was iced, and I was shocked by how buttery it is. It manages to be incredibly creamy, even though it’s also super light.

Hot it is very ‘typical green’-tasting, but angelic. It manages to be well-rounded without being heavy or full-bodied. Later steepings bring out more back-of-tongue richness, almost wheat-like. It is well balanced but not bland or equivocating…as someone else said, it is similar to Jade Cloud, but with more personality. It’s an “every day” tea without being…everyday.

Hmm, I actually quite like this one. I’m not really into green teas, but the name “emerald lily” and the description of this one really caught my eye. With the big, long, curly leaves, I was concerned I didn’t have enough leaf – but now I’m wondering if I’ve been preparing some other greens too strong? I have some Dragonwell that sort of freaked me out with the super strong fruit and veggie flavors, but maybe it was just too much leaf!

Anyhow, this is subtle and lovely with a mild fruity and flowery flavor. I’m not sure that I’m getting toasted pine nut..but..maybe. :)

The leaves on this tea are beautiful, a nice pale green in colour. However the smell is some what akin to stale urine mixed with corn(Sorry that’s what it smells like.) I fail to find the floral component apart from the slightly sweet vegetal taste. Unfortunately not my cup of tea.

Nice, I’m drinking this at UBCO right now up in the sr. collegia.

The leafs take on fuzzy earth-tone greens and I agree that they smell of fresh hay in the morning. I wouldn’t describe this as floral or nutty as a few other reviews did? I’m actually drinking this tea right now, so I will let it cool down a bit more before I make any final tasting conclusions. …… …….. ……….. hmm, still no floral or nutty flavours. I find it much more “earthy” and I slightly agree with the hint of corn off the cob. Oh PEAS, the taste slightly reminds me of pea soup..maybe I just really lack a tea tasting vocabulary.

Anyways, it’s a really nice mild earthy tone. This is a great green tea. I would buy it again.

I really feel like something is wrong here. Everyone keeps talking about nutty, floral flavours…even the tea bag describes it that way: “Crisp and fresh with notes of toasted chestnut and wild orchid”….but I’m stickin’ to my guns…this tea is earthy and of pea soup people!…..would anyone agree?

been on a Chinese tea kick since WTE :)

This tea has been discontinued and is no longer available!

I don’t think I’ve ever steeped a green tea for this long since my first really awful attempts to steep green tea before I started reading about teas and their various needs. But every single tasting note about this tea indicates at least a 4 minute steep time and Rishi recommends even longer. So I’m giving it a try at 4, figuring the worst that can happen is I get a really bitter, undrinkable mess and I just try again. I’m keeping the temp low, though Rishi recommends 185.

And miracle of miracles, it’s not bitter at all. But I’m not getting as much flavor as I’d hoped for reading others’ notes. I’m not worried, though. I figure I can try a higher temp and/or use gram weight rather than a spoon as I may have underleafed. Then again, it could just be that this is old. It was in a sealed packet, but even so.

I get grass/hay scent from the packet, a butter-vegetal aroma, and a sweet, vaguely floral green flavor. There’s some nuttiness in the after sip, though not very strong,

Not rating for now. I think I can do better with this.

Finally a straight green tea that does not taste grassy. At all. Tastes almost exactly like silver needle or Phoenix dan cong

this one is interesting. the buttery mouthfeel seems inversely proportional to the body/flavor, which is exquisitely delicate by contrast. as the tea cools down i’m getting an unsweetened honey note from the nose! directly upon steeping however, this smelled more strongly of corn. i appear to be getting that note a lot from green teas lately. interesting! this one is perhaps more of a wheatish-corn (a silhouette of corn husk)….something strawlike. i was reminded of my beloved bunny’s Timothy hay when i smelled the dry leaf. i imagine he would like this.

color of the tea liquor: a light golden hay. identical in appearance to many white teas, in fact.

the dry leaf is a very pale jade with furry white tips! (think the most desaturated color of jade you can get, like a white-grayish green…) reminds me somewhat of a Silver Needle in the way some of its tips appear to be covered by a silken peach fuzz.

speaking of jade, look at this tea set!
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Jade-Teapot_11574769/showimage.html

the overall impression is one of subtlety. Rishi’s Emerald Lily is subtle in the way Golden Moon’s White Persian Melon & Coconut Pouchong were, in terms of the liquor’s weight, taste, and color. would almost never guess this was a green! it’s what i’d call sylphlike.

i plan to resteep this one for sure, as the leaves haven’t quite fully unfurled. looking forward to that!